UK Edition
Women's footballers are being put at risk of physical burn-out due to "unacceptable" early national team call-ups ahead of this summer's European Championship, Telegraph Sport has been told.
Clubs across Europe have expressed "huge concern" at their players' shortened off-season breaks, with the majority of teams involved in the tournament starting their training camps at least 10 days earlier than the opening of the official Fifa international window of June 20.
Sources at 12 of the biggest women's teams across Europe all expressed their anger at the situation to The Telegraph, with two club board members saying there was "outrage" at the lack of recovery time since the club season finale, which in some countries came as recently as June 1.
England and Italy's squads were among the first to meet up, arriving at their camps on May 30, around five weeks before the start of the tournament and more than two months before the Wembley final. The Lionesses are being given weekends off for rest, while in Italy's case, none of their Juventus or Roma players who played in May 22's Coppa Italia final will take part until next week.
But those countries are not alone. Belgium's preparations began the earliest, on May 18, although it is understood their camp is not continuous. Germany, Austria and Denmark's camps are set to begin on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday respectively, with France and holders Holland following two days later. Four nations are going further with their pre-tournament preparations, playing a friendly prior to the international window starting - Austria host Denmark on June 12, while England welcome Belgium to Molineux on June 16.
Clubs' concerns are exacerbated by the condensed nature of the pre-season window for players after the July 31 Euros final, with Women's Champions League qualifiers scheduled for August 18 and most domestic leagues resuming by mid-September.
In an interview with Telegraph Sport, Bayern Munich's sporting director Bianca Rech said: "Players are getting burnt out. This is a huge topic which we need to talk about. No time to 'breathe' will cause much more injuries.
"We need to have an open discussion about when players are going to be released. It has to be a set rule in place and needs to be followed in the same manner by everyone."
Technically, clubs do not have to release their players to their national teams before June 20, but as Rech explains, no club would want to hinder their players' chances of selection for a Euros, adding: "It's very tricky for clubs. We could say ‘no’, but the problem is, the players are always caught in the middle. If we say ‘no, we’re not releasing our players’, we are the bad guys. Players are scared of not getting picked for the tournament.
"A pre-camp which starts more than four weeks before the actual tournament should not be acceptable. This problem, call-ups outside the windows, is not tackled yet. There has to be a clear understanding for Federations of what is acceptable and not. We cannot give responsibility to the players alone and let them decide."
Multiple sources have also raised concerns as to whether every player will be fully insured to train with their national teams outside of the official international window. In fully-professional nations such as England and Germany, this is said not to be an issue because full insurance is provided, but among some of the smaller nations, the insurance situation is unclear.
During the international window itself, protection is provided for clubs through Fifa's club protection programme if a player was to suffer an injury, but not outside the window.
Uefa said it was aware of the issues raised in this article, but referred the matter to Fifa. The world governing body has not responded to a request for comment by The Telegraph.
'Early call-ups unnecessarily undermine efforts for professionalisation in the women's game'
The European Club Association said that early call-ups "contravene the fundamental principles for the protection of players", adding in a statement: "Fifa's rules on the mandatory release of players exist to secure the balance between club and national team football, taking into account the interests of all stakeholders, and to protect the health and wellbeing of players.
"Clubs fully support the significance of the [Euros] in England this summer and its potential to positively impact the overall development of the game in Europe, from grass roots to elite levels. But early call ups contravene the fundamental principles for the protection of players and unnecessarily undermine the efforts for professionalisation of the women’s game for which we are all striving."
Sources at the English FA highlighted that the Lionesses were being given a four-day weekend off for the Jubilee to provide them with further rest and recovery time, as well as weekends off throughout June, and pointed out that all English clubs had consented to the release of their players.
Of the 16 countries involved at this summer's Euros, only Iceland and Finland are known to be waiting until June 20 to start their training camps in line with the Fifa calendar.
A spokesperson for the OEFB, Austria's governing body, who are hosting the earliest warm-up friendly of the summer, said they had only called up players that "already had a decent time completely off from football. The OEFB does everything in its power to protect the players".